Assigning Information in ArchiCAD for Material Takeoffs

At the January ArchiCAD User Group, we will examine ways that you can use ArchiCAD's database to assign properties to building elements and generate a material takeoff. We will examine how to create and assign database properties and how to create a schedule. The concepts we present are applicable to all construction elements in ArchiCAD including walls, roofs, slabs, floors, columns and beams.

Tom Simmons, President of ARCHVISTA, will present at this User Group. ARCHVISTA is the authorized ArchiCAD reseller for Northern California and is recognized for expertise in Building Information Modeling (BIM) as well as its implementation. Tom has spoken at major industry events including EcoBuild, AEC Systems, AIA Desert Practice Conference, AIA Monterey Design Conference and the Dwell Conference. He has authored several books and articles on Building Information Modeling and architectural technologies. Tom has a Masters of Architecture from University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Texas A&M University.

1/5/11

ArchiCAD User Group: Assigning Information in ArchiCAD for Material Takeoffs

We will examine ways that you can use ArchiCAD's database to assign properties to building elements and generate a material takeoff.

Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland
Contact: 510/464-3600

Cost: None; this user group open to all. Registration is required. Click here to register.
1.5 CES LUs

For more information: Call 510/464-3600

Northern California Vectorworks User Group: Using Photoshop and Renderworks

Wuin Hopkins, graphic designer, will demonstrate techniques for using photoshop in presentations. Bill Engelhardt will demonstrate 3d renderings and discuss how they were created using Renderworks.

After this user group attendees will have a greater understanding of various methods for using photoshop to make images for presentations and the types of renderings that are available with Renderworks. Attendees will also learn how to set up a rendering using Renderworks and the different types of lighting and materials used.

5/11/10

Vectorworks User Group: Using Photoshop and Renderworks

Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland.

Contact: 510/464-3600 or Bill Engelhardt at bill@engelhardtarchitecture.com

Cost: None; this forum is open to all. Please RSVP.

1.5 CES LUs

For more information: 510/464-3600

Creating a Project Website

In this user group we will review tools within ArchiCAD as well as web development tools, such as Dreamweaver, that allow you to present and review a project design over the web. We will also review several client web sites and methods they have used.

After this ArchiCAD User Group, attendees will have a greater understanding of:
The tools that can be used within ArchiCAD to present a project.
The tools that can be used within ArchiCAD for reviewing a project.
The tools used for web development.
How an architect can use these tools within their practice.

5/5/10

ArchiCAD User Group: Creating a Project Website

Time: 6:00pm 8:00pm

Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland.

Contact: 510/464-3600

Cost: None; this user group is open to all.

1.5 CES LUs

For more information: 510/464-3600

Vectorworks User Group: Architectural Workflow Using Vectorworks

Join the Northern California Vectorworks User Group to learn about architectural workflow using Vectorworks. We'll go through an architectural project from SD to CD and discuss the pros and cons of various workflows. We will discuss how files are structured, what has drawn 2D vs. 3D, the use of other software and hand drawings, the use of sheet layers vs. design layers, the use of templates vs. VW automation, as well as how sections, elevations and details are handled.

After attending this user group you will understand various architectural workflows using VW and how a project might flow from SD to CD. You will also understand the pros and cons of drawing various elements in 2D vs. 3D and understand how to use template to "automate" generation of SD and CD documentation.

1/12/10

Vectorworks User Group: Architectural Workflow Using Vectorworks

Time: 7:00pm 9:00pm

Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland.

Contact: 510/464-3600 or Bill Engelhardt

Cost: None; this user group is open to all. Please RSVP.

1.5 CES

For more information: 510/464-3600

Vectorworks User Group: Use of BIM In Small Projects

The Northern California Vectorworks User Group is meeting at AIA East Bay on Tuesday, May 12 at 7:00pm. Learn how to use Building Information Modeling (BIM) features on small projects and explore the BIM sample file.

You will watch a video of Francois Levy, of Nemetschek North America, showing the use of Vectorworks' Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools on a small, residential project. Then you'll go through one of the "BIM Examples" on Nemetschek's site to see how they recommend structuring a Vectorworks file.

5/12/09

Northern California Vectorworks User Group: The Use of BIM in Small Projects

Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland.

Contact: 510/464-3600

Cost: None; this program is open to all.

1.5 CES/LU

For more information: 510/464-3600

Revit Families 101

Join us on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 for a Revit User Group.

In response to the high demand for information on using Revit's powerful family editing tools, Shruti Harve, LEED AP and AEC Application Specialist at Ideate, will moderate a discussion on the basics of using the family editor. Shruti will also talk about using and modifying existing families and outline the process of converting DWG symbols (blocks) into basic Revit parametric families. New and nearly new Revit users are encouraged to attend this user group.

1/20/09

Revit User Group: Revit Families 101

Time: 11:30am-1:30pm

Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland .

Contact: Ideate--To register click here.

Cost: None; this program open to all. Lunch provided by Ideate, Inc.

1 CES/LU

For more information: 510/464-3600 or events@aiaeb.org.

VectorWorks User Group

Join us on Tuesday, January 13, 2009.

Mark your calendar and plan to attend. As always you're guaranteed to walk away with a new idea or two. At this meeting, we will continue our in-depth review of the tool sets their features, and options. At our last meeting we covered the basic tool set, this meeting we will look at the Dims/Notes tool set. We will also explore some of the new features in VectorWorks 2009.


1/13/09
VectorWorks User Group

Time: 7:00pm

Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland

Contact: 510/464-3600

Cost: None; This Program is open to all.

1 CES/LU

For more information: Contact 510/464-3600 or events@aiaeb.org

Revit User Group: Seek Your Revit Content

Join us on November 18, 2008 at the AIA East Bay Chapter Offices from 11:30am - 1:30pm. Lunch will be provided by Ideate, Inc.

Does your Revit Library live on the network? How much content do you use "out of the box" versus created in-house? Have you developed a naming convention for your families, types, and/or parameters? How are those conventions monitored? Join us in November as the East Bay Revit User Group discusses the many issues surrounding content management for our Revit-based applications. Nancy McClure, Ideate Application Specialist, will moderate this discussion. Come prepared to share your best practices or frustrations with your colleagues.

In addition to our moderated discussion, the November meeting will include a short presentation by Jun Shim. Jun is the Autodesk Product Manager for Autodesk Seek which an online source for building prodcut information that delivers rich, high quality 3D models, 2D drawings, visual images, and product specification data to the desktops of engineers, architects and designers. Try using Seek before the meeting...type "workstation" ito the Content Search Online toolbar in the upper right hand part of your Revit 2009 application and then filter on RFA files types.

11/18/08
Revit User Group/ Seek Your Revit Content
Time: 11:30am - 1:30pm
Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland
Cost: None, this program is open to all. Please RSVP .
1 CES Lus
For more information: 510/464-3600

The next meeting of the Northern California VectorWorks User Group(NCVWUG) will be on:

Tuesday Nov. 11th at 7:00 pm

AIA East Bay Office
The State of California Building (North West of City Hall & North East of the Federal Towers)
1405 Clay St. Oakland, CA
Corner of 14th & Clay, Northerly Corner
Look for East Bay AIA sign

At this meeting, we will do an in depth review of the tools, their features, and options, in the basic tool palette. We will also explore the new features in VectorWorks 2009. There will be a movie and handouts. Mark you calendar and plan to attend. As always, you're guaranteed to walk away with a new idea, or two. NCVWUG meets at AIA East Bay on the second tuesday of every other month.

Revit User Group: Revit Successes and Challenges for Multi-Family Residential Projects

The Harrison Street Senior Housing project, located on a corner lot in downtown Oakland, is a 73-unit affordable senior housing project. The project construction includes a ground-level concrete podium with five stories of wood frame construction above. Members of the Harrison Team from Pyatok Architects will discuss the approach, success, and challenges of using Revit to model this multi-family residential project.
Date: October 21, 2008
Time: 11:30am-1:30pm
Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland.
Cost: None; this program open to all. Lunch provided by Ideate, Inc.
1 CES/LU

For More Information: http://www.ideateinc.com/events/index.html

VectorWorks User Group

The next meeting of the Northern California VectorWorks User Group (NCVWUG) will be Tuesday, September 9, 2008. At this meeting, Jack Stone will demonstrate how to generate exotic 3 dimensional objects in Sketchup using Ruby scripts. These objects could then be imported into VectorWorks as schematic design elements. Time permitting there will also be a review of the tools in each of the various tool palettes. Future meetings will allow time to review one or two tool palettes. Bring your questions as there will be time allotted for the all important Q&A period. Mark your calendar and plan to attend. As always, you're guaranteed to walk away with a new idea or two. NCVWUG meets at AIA East Bay the second Tuesday of every month.

1.5 CES/LU

For more information, contact: Larry Mortimer, AIA or 510/464-3600.

Upcoming ArchiCAD User Groups

Join ArchVista as they host upcoming ArchiCAD User Groups, where you can meet and collaborate with your peers, learn tips, tricks and features related to ArchiCAD and get to know fellow users in your area.

September 3rd at 6pm - Rosemary Muller, FAIA of Muller Caulfield Architects will review the historical restoration and seismic upgrade of the Alameda Carnegie Library.

November 5th at 6pm - Ed Buchanan of Jarvis Architects will review a residential project that coordinates the 3D model from schematics through construction documents.

These events are co-sponsored by AIA East Bay.
For more information: Click Here

NCVWUG Meeting Reminder

This is a reminder that NCVWUG is meeting next week.

You can view the latest Webex presentation from Nemetschek on "The Callout Tool" by going to:

http://download2.nemetschek.net/nnapub/user_group/UserGroup_June_2008.html

Also, if anyone is interested in carpooling to the meetings, please let me know (including where you're located, and the best way to get in touch with you). I will try to put you in touch with others who are interested.

The next meeting of the Northern California VectorWorks User Group (NCVWUG) will be on:

Tuesday July 8th at 7:00 pm
AIA East Bay Office
The State of California Building (North West of City Hall & North East of the Federal Towers)
1405 Clay St. Oakland, CA
Corner of 14th & Clay, Northerly Corner
Look for East Bay AIA sign

At this meeting, two professionals from the San Francisco Opera will demonstrate how effectively it can be used for scenic design and stage lighting. Chad Owens will present a typical bid set for an upcoming production of "The Bonesetter's Daughter," an original opera based on Amy Tan's novel, and demonstrate quick and simple techniques for incorporating models and image files from Sketchup into Vectorworks. David Hartenstein will demonstrate why Vectorworks is the standard of choice among lighting designers around the world, focusing on spotlight, and how the program is used in stage lighting.

Also, there will be plenty of time for questions and answers. Mark you calendar and plan to attend. As always, you're guaranteed to walk away with a new idea, or two.

NCVWUG meets at AIA East Bay on the second tuesday of every other month.

Revit User Group: Play Nicely Or Learning To Share In An IPD World

On April 18 at 11:30 the Revit User Group will present: Play Nicely Or Learning To Share In An IPD World. Faster, more accurate and more easily shared information, available to all members of the design+build team is the ultimate goal in Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).

In April we are bringing together members of the East Bay Revit User Group from the construction, architecture and engineering professions to speak about using Revit to collaborate. Bring your workflow related questions and best practices to this panel-format discussion. Presented by Ideate, co-sponsored by AIA East Bay

Time: 11:30am-1:30pm
Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street , Oakland
Contact: Freddy Vasquez at 415/814-5539 www.ideateinc.com
Cost: None; Lunch will be provided by Ideate, Inc.
1.5 CES/LU

For more information: Kellie Hewlett, Program Coordinator, 510/464-3600

Revit User Group: Can Revit be Customized?

Tuesday, March 18 at 11:30am

If you're seeking an answer to this question or have a few good customization tips to share with colleagues, be sure to catch the next Revit User Group. Our meeting will begin with an open discussion about ways to customize and back-up your Revit work environment. We will be sure to touch on shortcuts, scripts, and the revit.ini file. Bring your best tips!

The second half of this meeting will be presented by Ben Bishoff, Software Developer with Ideate, Inc., who will discuss the Revit Application Program Interface (API) and demonstrate Ideate's free Revit Explorer tool. The Revit Explorer can be used to create detailed selection sets, find hidden DWGs, and audit family standards.

Time: 11:30am-1:30pm
Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland
Contact: Freddy Vasquez at 415.814.5539
Cost: None; Lunch will be provided by Ideate, Inc.
Click Here for Registration
1.5 CES/LU

For more information: Freddy Vasquez at 415.814.5539

VectorWorks Users Group

Join the Vectorworks User Group on Tuesday, March 11 at 7:00pm. Peter Thayer will share a treasure trove of internet web sites he's found that support VectorWorks. Bill Engelhardt will show us how to do a Quicktime movie shadow study.

As usual, there will be plenty of time for questions and answers. Mark you calendar and plan to attend. As always, you're guaranteed to walk away with a new idea, or two.

3/11/08
VectorWorks Users Group
Time: 7:00pm
Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland
Contact: Larry Mortimer, AIA or 510/464-3600
Cost: None. This meeting open to all.
1.5 CES/LU

For more information: 510/464-3600 or Kellie Hewlett, Program Coordinator.

ArchiCAD User Group

ArchiCAD User Group will meet and collaborate on Wednesday, March 5 at 6:00pm. Join your peers at this ArchiCAD User Group. You'll learn lots of tips, tricks and features related to ArchiCAD and get a chance to get to know other users in your area. Sponsored by Archvista and AIA East Bay.

Key new features include:
-Full Radiosity in preview
-Real sky illumination
-Automatic light adjustment
-Shade creator
-Integrated image post-processing

Time: 6:00-8:00pm
Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street, Oakland
Contact: To register & for more information, please visit: http://p.hostingprod.com/@archvista.com/index-usergroup.html
Cost: None. This meeting open to all.
2 CES/LU

For more information: Kellie Hewlett, Program Coordinator, 510/464-3600

Revit User Group

Urban development projects have many hoops to jump through – in addition to building code compliance and owner’s programmatic goals, designers often have to defend their designs to the community at large. Design Review boards and neighborhood associations are notorious for requiring the development team to defend their design in terms of “light and air” impact of their form on the surrounding infrastructure.

Join us as Nancy McClure, of Ideate, Inc., leads a discussion on the use of the Sun Shadow tool in Revit to create documents to support and defend the massing of an urban infill project. We will also explore creation of compelling interior daylighting presentations.This user group will provide ongoing vital information to inform you on BIM, IPD, and other important topics. Sponsored by Ideate, Inc . and AIA East Bay .

REGISTER ONLINE

Time: 11:30am-1:30pm
Location: AIA East Bay Chapter Office, 1405 Clay Street , Oakland
Contact: Freddy Vasquez at 415.814.5539
Cost: None; Lunch will be provided by Ideate, Inc.

Vectorworks Users Group

From Larry Mortimer, AIA:

"Just a reminder that the next meeting of the Northern California VectorWorks User Group (NCVWUG) will be Tuesday Sept. 11th. Also hot off the press, Nemetschek NA has announced VectorWorks 2008 (the next version) will be released on September 13th. For more information go to:

http://www.vectorworks2008.net/

Our next meeting will be:

Tuesday September 11th at 7:00 pm

AIA East Bay Office

The State of California Building (North West of City Hall & North East of the Federal Towers)

1405 Clay St. Oakland, CA

Corner of 14th & Clay, Northerly Corner

Look for East Bay AIA sign

The presentation at this meeting will be:

Peter Thayer will discuss the use of Symbols vs Plug-ins, and Larry Mortimer will bring you up to speed on the Wall Tool, and creating and applying Wall Styles.

We will also decide what topics the User Group will cover in the next few meetings.

As usual, there will be plenty of time for questions and answers. Mark you calendar and plan to attend. As always, you're guaranteed to walk away with some new ideas.

NCVWUG meets at AIA East Bay on the second tuesday of every other month."

For more information: lmort at kmort.com

VectorWorks User Group Meeting

From Larry Mortimer, AIA:

Just a reminder,
the next meeting of the Northern California VectorWorks User Group (NCVWUG) will be on:

Tuesday May 8th at 7:00 pm
AIA East Bay Office
The State of CA Building Near City Hall
1405 Clay St Oakland
Corner of 14th & Clay, South East Corner
Look for East Bay AIA sign
(12th Street/City Center BART Station)

The presentation at this meeting will be:
Quick and Easy 3D, by Peter Xiques
NCVWUG meets at AIA East Bay on the second tuesday of every other month.

For more information: lmort@kmort.com